⁷ Dear friends,^(A) I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning.^(B) This old command is the message you have heard. ⁸ Yet I am writing you a new command;^(C) its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing^(D) and the true light^(E) is already shining.^(F)

⁹ Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister^[a](G) is still in the darkness.^{(H) 10} Anyone who loves their brother and sister^[b] lives in the light,^(I) and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.^{(J) 11} But anyone who hates a brother or sister^(K) is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness.^(L) They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.^(M)

More on Love and Hatred

¹¹ For this is the message you heard^(A) from the beginning:^(B) We should love one another.^{(C) 12} Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one^(D) and murdered his brother.^(E) And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.^{(F) 13} Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters,^[a] if the world hates you.^{(G) 14} We know that we have passed from death to life,^(H) because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death.^{(I) 15} Anyone who hates a brother or sister^(J) is a murderer,^(K) and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.^(L)

¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.^(M) And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.^{(N) 17} If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them,^(O) how can the love of God be in that person?^{(P) 18} Dear children,^(Q) let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.^(R)

¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.^{(A) 13} Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.^(B)